Andy Brown of Kalamazoo will stand trial in the Oct. 2 fatal shooting of David Locey of Sturgis, Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Middleton ruled Thursday.Brown is charged with first-degree premeditated murder and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony.At a preliminary hearing Wednesday and Thursday in St. Joseph County District Court, Middleton heard from 15 witnesses brought by Prosecutor John McDonough.Before binding the case over for trial, Middleton listened to McDonough’s final witness, St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Det./Sgt. Lonnie Palmer, lead investigator. Palmer described his investigation. On the day of the shooting, interrogating Brown was his primary responsibility. Brown was at the scene near the Locey office on Wait Road with his father, James. Palmer said he observed Brown before approaching him. Brown was pacing and kneeling, possibly dry-heaving, he said. When Palmer asked Brown to go with him to the sheriff’s department, he went willingly, Palmer said. In the course of a 90-minute interview, Palmer said Brown was “nervous” but answered questions about accusations of embezzlement and the meeting he had with Locey the previous day, saying he might lose his job.Palmer said when he told Brown Locey had been shot in the head, Brown seemed surprised. When Palmer asked Brown if he had shot Locey, Brown said he had not. Palmer asked Brown if anyone might have motive to kill Locey. Brown suggested the Elkins brothers from V.I.P. Auto Body in Coldwater, Palmer said.“I asked him, ‘If they (V.I.P.) are mad at you, why wouldn’t they shoot you in the head and not Dave Locey?’” Palmer told the court.Palmer asked for Brown’s whereabouts that morning. Brown said he got up later than usual, left home around 6:30 a.m. and went to his parents’ home to discuss the previous day’s meeting with Locey. He wasn’t able to talk to his father at home and after talking to his mother for a few minutes, Brown said, he went to his father’s business, as was verified by witnesses.Brown’s next stop was JB Simpson of Sturgis, a client. At 7:57 a.m., Brown’s father called saying Locey had been shot, so Brown headed to the office.Palmer collected evidence that included Brown’s car, shoes, clothes he was wearing and some clothing from his car. That evidence is still being evaluated, Palmer said.However, the cell phone Brown was carrying — registered in his wife’s name, was the phone tracked by Paul Gonyeau, technical services unit with the Michigan State Police, who submitted evidence from it on Wednesday. In looking for the gun, Palmer said authorities searched the area Brown said he traveled Oct. 2, using various methods.Investigators also searched Brown’s home, his parents’ home and trash at Brown’s father’s business.Three bullets that Russell Karsten, a firearms examiner from Michigan State Police, discussed Wednesday were taken in the autopsy, Palmer said. A fourth which was sent later, and came from the target practice area on the property of Ed Elkins of Coldwater, who reported his Colt 38 police special missing Oct. 2, Palmer said.Palmer also clocked drive times between the locations indicated by Brown’s cell phone record and where witnesses reported seeing Brown.Palmer said he received about 223 tips before Brown was charged with murder but “very few, if any” since Brown was charged.During cross-examination, attorney Michael Hills argued that Brown’s participation was given freely and his testimony was consistant with witnesses’. Brown willingly went to the sheriff’s department for questioning and “he’s been with you ever since,” Hills said.Brown did not offer his V.I.P. clients as possible suspects “out of the blue,” but in response to Palmer’s question, he said.Hills asked Palmer if he had timed any travel routes other than those mapped by Gonyeau. Palmer said he had not. Hills also asked about a “footprint” in the office. Palmer said he had not heard of a footprint. He asked what gun investigators were seeking. Palmer said the Colt 38 missing from Elkins’ desk. Andy Brown and his father had no guns registered in their names, Palmer said. Brown’s mother, Teresa Brown, had a 38-caliber gun registered in her name but it was found in Mississippi, Palmer said.The defense called no witnesses. McDonough brought his final arguments before Middleton, reminding that it was a probable cause hearing and that a crime was committed. The question, he said, is who did it. Evidence is sufficient to show that Brown committed the crime, McDonough said, given the embezzlement issue at the office, he said, “It it our theory that he chose to murder David Locey.”Brown’s life was in a downward spiral,” McDonough said as he reiterated the evidence presented, noting that during Tammy Brunner’s call to 911, Andy Brown was the first person who came to her mind when finding Locey dead.“It is my belief that he was lying in wait somewhere near Locey’s office,” McDonough said.Hills responded that there is little evidence linking Brown to the murder. “There is a lot of smoke,” Hills said but there is a “substantial lack of evidence.”Hills noted that the recovered bullets could have come a number of guns on Karsten’s list.“We don’t know what weapon killed Mr. Locey,” he said. “Maybe Mr. Brown had access to V.I.P. Auto in Coldwater, but nobody there puts a gun in Andy Brown’s hand.”Hills reiterated Brown’s cooperation and that although investigators “scoured,” the area, no weapon was found.Hills said there is a substantial lack of motive, in fact it was a “reverse motive.”Locey is one who gave Brown a second chance, Hills said. Locey was the only person on his side at that point. “There is no motive,” Hills said.Hills questioned charts presented by Gonyeau mapping cell phone activity and said Brown’s dealings with his clients at V.I.P. was “irrelevant to this homicide.”McDonough’s theory of Brown lying in wait “has no proof,” Hills said. There is no gun with ties to Brown, faulty mapping and no motive, he said.“David Locey was one of (Brown’s) only remaining friends,” Hills said.Following the attorney’s statements, it was Middleton’s turn. He also noted that probable cause standards are lower than those facing a jury. A crime was committed, he said. “All the witnesses told what they knew,” Middleton said. “We had a high quality of witnesses testify. All were competent adults testifying to the best of their ability.”From concrete evidence:

Locey at BP Snappy Mart from 7:10 to 7:12 a.m.The security system at the office was disarmed at 7:13 a.m. with Locey’s code.Brown was at his parents’ home around 7:25 a.m.Middleton said “There is a 12-minute window to commit the crime.” What happened in those 12 minutes is unknown, Middleton said.Also known, is that the week before the shooting, Brown asked Lee Younkman of Coldwater about buying bullets and he was in the body shop where a gun was in a drawer.However, there is “zero evidence” he stole the gun from the auto shop, Middleton said, calling it “rank speculation,” even though the missing gun was discovered after Elkins heard of the shooting.Middleton said there is no motive for the Elkins brothers and each has an alibi.As for Brown’s motive, Middleton said, “Motive doesn’t make a lot of sense — only to the defendant at the time.”He cited several cases in which the crime committed did nothing to improve a situation.Middleton noted that Brown was “in a desperate spot”; that he was stealing money from the auto shop; and that Locey’s office has “a fine reputation.”“If Mr. Locey made a mistake, it was taking Andy Brown back” after the previous embezzlement incident, Middleton said.There is probable cause, “Mr. Brown, to believe you did this,” Middleton said.